Apropos the New Corpus of Linear B Tablets from Pylos. Les archives du roi Nestor

Les archives du roi Nestor offers scholars the long-awaited full scholarly edition of the Linear B documents found at Pylos from 1939 to date. For the first time—along with transliterations, information about size and number of fragments, find-spot, publication history and a critical apparatus—, each document is accompanied by drawings and colour photographs. The new analysis of the palaeography of the tablets has allowed considerable improvement of previously proposed transliterations and the suggestion of new readings. Moreover, it has enriched our knowledge of Mycenaean scribal practices by further clarifying the role of individual scribes in the administration chain of the Palace at Pylos. Finally, it has huge philological and historical implications. The following review article tries to discuss the main positions of the book, by contextualizing them in the field of research and by entering into more detailed discussion of some of them.